


Scattered Ashes

by PetertheChameleon



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2009-12-19
Updated: 2009-12-19
Packaged: 2017-10-04 16:01:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PetertheChameleon/pseuds/PetertheChameleon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the War comes to an end and nations are left in ashes, the Fire Nation alone feels no victory. Short series of one-shots on the futures of the Fire Nation people, seen through the eyes of ordinary citizens.  Written prior to the end of Season 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scattered Ashes

**Author's Note:**

> While watching Return to Omashu again, it suddenly dawned on me that the defeat of the Fire Nation wouldn't be that simple. It never is for the losing side of a war. This is a handful of drabbles examining the fate of the Fire Nation citizens after the fall of Ozai -- their uncertain present and cloudy future, as well as their trials in picking up the pieces.

The hills were green, dotted with thrashing trees, their fragrance heavy on the summer wind. A river that often looked mud brown had caught the sky just right, and the pastures blazed as if a swath of sun cut across them.

The land rolled under the wind, crests of grassy waves climbing the hill toward her, and she felt as if the ground were really moving. As if she were again on the open sea that had brought her there as a young child, to her home.

It was her home, no matter how she had arrived. Clutching her father's sleeve as he smiled down at her, his thin black mustache curving around his chin. The first few years had been difficult, and they had struggled to build a new life in the hostile world. But her father's reassuring smile on that scary boat ride always calmed her, even when his smile had eventually become nothing more than a memory. And now she stood on the hill of the village that her father helped build, looking out on a world that had once more turned hostile.

"Mommy." She felt a tug on her sleeve and looked down on the black-headed child. His eyes were red and confused, thin trails of dirt on his cheeks and under his nose. "Mommy, Dad says we have to go now."

Despite his pleas, she felt as if her legs were rooted to the earth. How could she leave her home? All of their blood, many of their lives, buried in the soil that had turned so fruitful under their care. Perhaps, she had argued with her husband, perhaps they will let us stay. They'll see what we have done, and they'll know that this is our home now.

Darling, he said. This isn't our home any more.

That was the day the news came. Fire Lord Ozai's death. Princess Azula's surrender. Given how unreliably information traveled that summer, they couldn't be sure exactly when it happened. Nor could they be sure when the Earth Kingdom would respond. But as the soldiers were recalled for their final mission, it slowly dawned on them that they would be alone in finding a solution. They would either wait for the Earth Kingdom to come, or they would head back to the Fire Nation. Back home.

"Mommy, they've loaded the wagons," her second-born whispered, giving her sleeve another, more urgent tug. "I don't want them to leave us."

She let the wind blow through her hair for one more moment, breathing in the land as if tasting it for the first time. It would also be her last, and she savored it. She would turn her back on the scene, on the mottled hills with their terraced farms, on that mud-brown river where she had scattered her father's ashes, and set her sights on something further West.

It was enough to make her weep. But she closed her hand around her child's, and gave him a smile that made the tears curl around her lips. Her father had left his home once to give her a new life, and she would do the same for her family. All they should ever remember was her smile, and not the trip that would take them away from the only world they'd known.

Somewhere out West, an ocean rolled like grass on a hill. And maybe beyond that would finally be home.


End file.
